Cops: Protectors or predators?

Saw the most horrific scenes on TV where the police appeared to beat up about 2,000 protesting retrenched workers in Gurgaon! Earlier, these workers had been blocking traffic on the Delhi–Jaipur highway, and clashed with the police. At least one cop got badly beaten—no sympathies; most Indian cops could do with a sound thrashing! Anyway, these people were then apparently calmed down and told to go to the secretariat building or some such place, where the cops, now kitted out in riot gear, set about thrashing them in the most disgusting manner!

What is more shocking is that it happened right in front of the media. It was sickening—a whole bunch of people sitting on the ground and cops come down on them with lathis. One guy was being battered by multiple policeman, and one was thrown over a fence. I saw at least one person being given cardiac massage.

I don’t really have both sides of what happened; rumour mills say the cops ‘set them up’ because they were smarting at the way their chaps got beaten. Whatever it was, the blatant disregard of the very same people we supposedly trust to keep order in society of basic human rights—not to mention the fact that they had the gall to do it front of the national media—is totally reprehensible.

It’s things like these that make one feel there is no hope for this country.

~PD

5 Responses

Absolutely shocking, though hardly surprising given the record of the Indian Police. I hear they have now cordoned off the hospital after their DC got roughed up by some of the injured workers’ relatives. Meanwhile, the Home Minister has read out a report in Parliament saying that 92 people were injured. Now, even the most conservative media estimate has put the figure at three times that number. When the opposition pointed out that he was only giving the State Government’s version of events, the Minister said that the previous Government had done the same during the Gujarat riots. I had not known that what happened in Gujarat has been accepted as the role model in reporting to Parliament.

When I was a kid, my mum told me that if I ever got lost, I should try to contact the police. Daftest bit of advice I have ever received.

Sad doesn’t even begin to describe it. Unfortunately, incidents like this have become more the norm rather than the exception in this country. And they always happen vis-a-vis workers, slum-dwellers, beggars, etc. – people who do not have the wherewithal or the connections to fight back. Scary, too, for if we ever need help, who do we turn to?